About 25 years ago, the first adaption of the short story "Children of the Corn" by Stephen King, which was first published in the May 1977 edition of the Penthouse magazine, was released in the US. This horror-tale, back then with Linda Hamilton in her first lead role, is, as we all know, about an aggressive cult of children, who kill all adult "sinners" in a small town and afterwards live there in a strange parallel universe, in which their almight God decides about everyone`s fate. Thus the title of the movie "Children of the Corn". However, that adaption did only loosely follow the original storyline. After the involuntary arrival of the couple Burt & Vicky in Gatlin, the script writers almost completely left away the threatening situations that put their relationship to a severe test when evil looms large. Furthermore, the finale was adjusted to the demands of Hollywood, meaning that the writers made the story end with the unavoidable happy ending, which the original story does not provide at all.
Nevertheless, the movie was a success. Consequently, as for today, seven sequels have already been released. Those sequels are sometimes more and sometimes less fun, but they have one thing in common. They have nothing to do with the original story, except that some of the lead characters appear from time to time.

This year, the US TV channel Sci-Fi (now known under the more stylish name SyFy) together with FOX Searchlights produced a remake of the original, at least they promote it as such. But rather than a remake of the '84 movie, this one tries to be true to the original story by Stephen King. King himself with the help of Donald P. Borchers, producer of the first movie, wrote the script. As a logical consequence, the remake is much closer to the story and therefore a lot darker and more disturbing.And really, the crew managed to set the movie apart from the normal SyFy productions, which usually are monster or animal horror flicks with poor special effects. The atmosphere is terrifying and leads to a convincing climax and expresses the madness of the cult extremely well.

Moreover, the violence is as explicit as in the original, at some points the remake even offers more than the first adaption.
However, for the TV premiere on September 26, the movie had to be re-cut due to some sexual imagery and the before-mentioned violence in the unrated version. Some obscene dialogs had to be cropped and some had to be removed completely. In addition to that some scenes were altered in order to be able to place commercial breaks more smoothly. Having said that, the TV-version is still worth watching. The editing was well done and most of the gore remained intact. The atmosphere, too, did not suffer.
People, who reject censored versions all together, don`t have to dispair. Anchor Bay released the Unrated version of the movie, which is being promotoed as "Uncut & Uncensored" and offers, besides the movie, relatively decent special features, on October 6.
Both, movie and DVD can be recommended.

The time references of the deleted scenes were taken from the US TV-version. The remaining time difference results from rounding up and down the run-time of the deleted scenes to whole and half seconds, the credits that are missing from the TV-version and small extensions of scenes (less than 1 second) that are not relevant for this report since they do not constitute censorship.

Comparison between the censored TV-version from SyFy (TV14), broadcasted on 26.09.2009 at 9 pm, and the uncensored Unrated DVD from Anchor Bay.

run-time of the US TV-version: 1:27:33 (without commercial breaks / no credits)run-time of the Unrated DVD: 1:32:11 (1:29:21 without credits)

6:22The car of Burton & Vicky hits the boy on the street at almost full speed.
very few single shots

6:23After the shot of the shocked Vicky, the point of impact is briefly shown again from a different angle.
very few single shots

9:42The shot, in which Burton turns around the dead boy, is longer. This is followed by a shot, in which the corpse is turned around completely.
3 Sec.

9:57alternative shotThe US TV-version continues showing Burton, while he says "His throat's been cut.", whereas the Unrated-version contains an intercut between Burton and the dead boy.
no time difference

US TV-version:

Unrated DVD:

18:39Due to reasons of coherence after the commercial break, the TV-version does not show a shot of the car driving off into the horizon.
3,5 sec.

21:26A dialog between Burton & Vicky is missing from the TV-version.
Vicky:"We haven't seen a car or a track in like an hour. It's weird."Burton:"Maybe Nebraska is playing a home game."8,5 sec.

26:05Again, a dialog is missing - Vicky talks about her past with a group of street preachers, who had taken care of her, and says that they are nothing but charlatans.
35 Sec.

39:08Some of Vicky`s dialog is missing due to its explicit content.
Vicky:"Out in the jungle? Along with how to cut gook tits of and make moccasins out of them in twenty seconds?"7 sec.

45:09In the Unrated-version, the short dialog between Vicky and Malachai, in which Vicky asks who those children are and Malachi replies that they are her fate, follows here. In the TV-version, this dialog is shown a little later.
no time difference

45:30alternative shotsThe shot, in which Vicky backs away from the children is shown from different angles.
no time difference

US TV-version:

Unrated DVD:

54:37Close up of how Burton breaks the arm of the attacking teenager. The bloody radius and ulna become visible.
0,5 sec.

1:09:54Burton holds the dead boy longer in his arm, blood comes out of his gaping wound in his throat. Then the camera shows Burton, who is in dispair.
8 sec.

1:14:07The children stand around the altar in an additional shot.
7 sec.

1:14:13The two chosen ones take of their robes longer, eventually they are naked.
2 sec.

1:14:20The couple lies down on the altar, one on top of the other. The US TV-version only shows the "harmless" beginning of the scene. The rest is missing.
4,5 sec.

1:14:22Two more shots of the girl, who is lying under the boy.
2 Sec.

1:14:23alternative shotThe camera angle of the US TV-version switches to isometric, while the boy is lying down on his female partner and kissing her throat. The Unrated version does not change.
no time difference

US TV-Ausstrahlung:

Unrated DVD:

1:14:27The couple is shown having sex on the altar longer.
The shot of the painting follows a little later in the US TV-version.3 sec.

1:14:38alternative sequencingThe explicit display of the sex between the couple was replaced with more inoffensive shots in the US TV-version. Furthermore, the scene is longer on the Unrated-DVD. The couple makes love faster and more passionately.
2,5 sec.

US TV-version:

Unrated DVD:

1:14:44alternative sequencingThe US TV-version only shows a very short shot of the couple from an isometric angle (followed by a shot of the painting. 1:14:41), whereas the Unrated version contains an additional shot of Isaac, as well as a more explicit and longer shot of the sex on the altar.
3,5 sec.

US TV-version:

Unrated DVD:

1:15:05alternative shotIn the US TV-version, the scene, where the breast of the girl is not covered by her arm, was replaced with the shot of Isaac from 1:14:58.
no time difference

US TV-version:

Unrated DVD:

1:15:10Part of the sex scene is missing.
1 sec.

1:15:11The order of the single shots (painting; Isaac)is different in each version. Moreover, two of the more explicit shots of the sex are missing from the US TV-version.
1 sec.

1:15:16alternative shotAgain, the US TV-version only shows a less explicit shot of the sex.
no time difference

US TV-Ausstrahlung:

Unrated DVD:

1:15:20alternative shotIn the US TV-version, the beginning of the shot was replaced with an alternative shot of the paining, after that the original shot continues but in a zoomed in version so that the bare breast of the girl is not visible.
no time difference

US TV-Ausstrahlung:

Unrated DVD:

1:24:37In the Unrated-version the complete credits, beginning with the quote from the bible, follow here. After that the immolation of Malachai is shown. In the TV-version, there are no credits, therefore, the immolation follows directly after the burning of the children, which is followed by the credits in the Unrated-version.
170 sec.

1:24:38alternative shotThe first shot of the march to the corn field is slightly different in each version. The shot in the Unrated-version is substantially longer.
13 sec.

US TV-version:

Unrated DVD:

1:26:23alternative sequencingDuring Malachai`s vision, each version shows different material or rather a different order of identical footage. The scene is slightly longer in the Unrated-version.